What’s Happening
Stay up to date with the latest news on Church Housing
The Battle for Housing Quality: upholding housing values in a time of financial and political pressure
If you missed our online event on Wednesday 14th Jan on the battle to deliver quality social housing in a time of acute financial and political pressures, then you can watch the recording here. In addition, you can access the slide presentations of all four speakers.
Plans to end homelessness – from the nation to the neighbourhood
Bishop Guli responds to the government’s new homelessness strategy, concluding with: May our hearts be touched afresh by the plight of homeless families in our own communities, and may we, through prayer, compassion, and perhaps even sacrifice, put our faith into practice so that others can have a place to call home.
Affordable rural housing: a little Church land can make a big impact
A new article by the Rural Community Council of Essex highlights how the Church may have the keys to unlock the provision of affordable rural housing.
Another 11 local church housing projects get grant boost
The Archbishops Council Housing Project agreed to make a further 11 grants for local church housing initiatives, worth an average of £23,160 each. Grants were mainly for professional fees to examine the feasibility or viability of redevelopment projects that include the provision of affordable housing.
The Church Commissioners’ approach to sustainability on their development land
The Church Commissioners have been making a series of videos called Faith in our Future about their approach to sustainability across their land assets, the third of which focuses on their strategic development land.
Unpacking the theology behind the Five ‘S’ housing values
The Bishop for Housing unpacked the theology behind the five core values in the Coming Home report at an event in Birmingham in October 2025. This document is the basis for her talk.
Five ‘S’ design guide published
The Church Development Agency has published a design guide which takes the Five S values from the Coming Home report that describe good housing, and turned them into guidelines for architects and builders working on Church housing projects.
Glebe land & affordable housing event
Report of the termly Church Housing event chaired by Bishop Guli, which explored the opportunities and challenges around using the Church of England's glebe land to provide affordable housing. Over 100 people participated, and guest speakers were Laura Atkinson, Kate Cortez, Sarah Outram and Bishop Hugh Nelson.
Bishop Guli visits two Liverpool churches with a heart for housing
Bishop Guli was joined by members of the Archbishops Council housing project team to visit two churches that have received grants from the project to develop their proposals up to the pre-planning stage.
Birmingham Housing Stories - Part 7
The 7th and final video in our series on how the housing crisis in Birmingham impacts local communities, explores how health often deteriorates when moving from your own home into temporary accommodation.
URC publishes guide to affordable housing on church land
The URC North Western Synod has published a short guide for local churches about how to provide affordable housing. Although written in a URC context, the guide will be of benefit to local churches of any denomination who are interested in exploring this important opportunity for meeting the needs of local communities.
Glebe land and affordable housing - online event
We are hosting the next online Coming Home update event with news and stories about the Church and affordable housing at 6pm on Wednesday 24th September, 2025. The focus for the evening will be glebe land and how to build affordable homes on it.
Birmingham Housing Stories - Part 6
The sixth video in our series on how the housing crisis in Birmingham impacts local communities unpacks the damaging effects of housing instability in children’s lives.
£495,000 awarded to kick start 23 local church housing projects
The Archbishops Council Housing Project has approved the first round of grants for church housing initiatives, worth an average of £21,500 each. Grants were mainly for professional fees to examine the feasibility or viability of a church redevelopment project that prioritises the provision of affordable housing.
Birmingham Housing Stories - Part 5
The fifth episode of this series on how the housing crisis impacts local communities in Birmingham shows how the acute shortage of family homes in the social rent sector is having a deep impact on families in the city.
Housing Project team visits churches transformed into community hubs
The Archbishops’ Council Housing Project team recently visited Portsmouth as part of their wider engagement with parishes across the country. They are exploring examples of how church land and buildings can be creatively repurposed to meet local housing and community needs.
Birmingham Housing Stories - Part 4
In the fourth episode of this series looking at how the housing crisis impacts local communities in Birmingham, Dan Mayes and Louise Jones highlight the range of community and support networks in place to help people in housing need.
Report on Coming Home update - 19th May
Around 120 people attended this term’s Church Housing online event on 19th May, chaired by the lead Bishop for Housing, Guli Francis-Dehqani. Guest speakers included Aileen Evans, Beki Winter, Jamie Huard and Bishop Rob Wickham.
Birmingham Housing Stories - Part 3
In the third episode of this series highlighting housing need in local communities in Birmingham, we get a glimpse of how poor housing impacts many other areas of life, especially people’s mental health and wellbeing.
Church Housing online event to showcase two new initiatives
Two new initiatives within the Church of England's housing 'ecosystem' have got under way in recent weeks, which in the years ahead will lead to the provision of hundreds of homes and community support around the country. We will be showcasing these two startups in our termly Church Housing online event, on 19th May at 6pm.

